Metal Gravity Falls 2
by Space Keet
Summary: Two years after the events of Weirdmageddon and one year after the events of the Guns of the Patriots Incident Snake and Otacon get the records of the Diamond Dogs from Huey and find the Pines in there. They decide to take Sunny, John, Rose and Raiden to Gravity Falls for a 'vacation' little do they know what's to come.
1. Let the Prologue commence!

Dipper slams his face onto his desk and groans. School's almost finished and the Twins have a ton of homework not from the school.

"One more month of this, we can do it!" Dipper says, retrieving his cap.

"Are you telling me or yourself?" Mabel groans on the desk behind him.

"Both?"

Mabel bangs her head on her desk repeatedly, "we are 15, almost 16 why. Are. we. still. Doing. This. Ow."

Dipper laughs, "you OK?"

"No?"

Mabel groans when they hear the creak of the stairs, the Twins quickly pick up their pencils and start writing as their mother passes their open door. She walks back carrying a suitcase. After they hear her walk down the stairs, the Twins sneak out of their room to hide on the balcony. They watch their parents leave the house and hear the car drive off, no words to the Twins. The twins walk down the stairs and head into the kitchen to see a note on the counter.

Dipper picks it up and reads from it, "sorry, couldn't convince Dad to leave me behind for the business trip. He only told me at the last minute like he usually does, won't be gone long! Oh and attached are a list of chores I need done to keep you busy."

Mabel groans a she looks at the list, "whhhhhhyyyyyyyyy."

Dipper crumples up the letter and list, tossing them into the bin. He walks to the phone and dials a number, "hello Abuelita, is Soos busy?"

"Yes," she answers from the other end.

"Oh, in that case, could you please set up the attic for us?" Dipper asks.

"Of course, you two have safe trip now," she says and hangs up, presumably to go set up the attic.

Dipper puts the phone back in its stand after erasing the call history. He turns around to see Mabel beaming, "are we going to pull a Gruncle Stan?!"

Dipper grimaces, "no, we don't have enough time for something like that. We're going to do the most cliche thing and run away. Let's go pack."

"But, why Dipper?"

"Isn't it obvious Mabel? They don't care."

Mabel grins again anyway, and dashes up the stairs to go and pack.

The twins are packing the last of their luggage when Mabel spots a small box in the closet. She pulls it out and opens it, gasping as she sees the photobook and Diamond Dogs uniforms. She had forgotten about this stuff, not their adventure though.

"Mabel?" Dipper says he walks up and looks at the box.

"They're too small for us now, but let's pack them up and the book," he says with a smile.

Mabel smiles, "hey Dipper, could you pull my hair into the bun please?"

"Sure thing Mabel, after we finish packing," he says, packing his small uniform away. They pack away the uniforms and book, Dipper pulling up Mabel's hair. Waddles is sleeping calmly by Mabel's bed while he waits.

They make their way back downstairs, Dipper tapping away to their chat group. Ford made an encrypted messaging app for the Zodiac, no one could read their messages.

"Dipper, ranting about it won't help, they won't be able to help us," Mabel says, patting Waddles.

"Robbie has some free time he says, he's going to come down and check on us but we 'better not be crying wolf'," he says, lowering his phone.

"Well it's going to take him awhile to get here, it takes six hours," Mabel groans flopping over the bench.

Dipper grins, "Unless it's Gruncle Stan, then it takes three and at least twenty broken laws."

Mabel laughs. She thinks for a bit, "hey Dipper?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think they're still alive? Uncle Boss, Ocelot, Uncle Grumpy Bum and Huey?" she asks.

Dipper thinks for a bit, "I dunno Mabel, possibly, though they live a pretty tough life style so I wouldn't be surprised if they're dead."

They sit around the house and chat a bit more while they wait for Robbie.

Five and a half hours later, Dipper's phone rings and he answers it, "yes?"

"Hey, it's me. Where are you two?," Robbie says.

"I will hand you off to Mabel to direct you," Dipper says, handing the phone to his sister.

She starts to direct him over the phone as Dipper tidies their stuff up. He also organizes his brain for the long explanation for Robbie.

It didn't take long for Robbie's red hatchback to roll into the driveway and the man to step out, walking towards the door and knocking. Dipper opens the door and lets him in.

Robbie raises a brow to their stuff, "OK, I really need an explanation, so let's hear it."

Dipper takes a deep breath, "well the unnecessary amounts of homework has been in since we started school, our mom has always been giving us so many chores and we don't get paid for it. When we're not doing that our Dad always makes us go boxing and he doesn't sit back and watch quietly. He's tried to stop me from dancing on several occasions and dislikes Mabel going to art club, saying it's 'not smart and a waste of intelligence'. Earlier this year they went on another "business trip" that lasted two months."

"Whoa, and I thought my folks were bad, we need to get you two out of here," Robbie says after a moment of thought.

"Wait, you're actually going to?!-" Dipper freaks out

"Yeah, this is really whack. Not cool at all. Get your stuff together and come outside, I'll get you back to the 'Falls," he says.

The Twins gather up their stuff and walk out to Robbie's car with Waddles. Dipper locks the door behind them and they climb into Robbie's car. Mabel makes Waddles comfortable and puts her stuff in the back. Dipper puts his stuff in the back and closes the boot.

"I call shotgun!" Mabel calls, running to the passenger side.

Dipper laughs as he gets into the backseat, Robbie getting into the driver's seat.

After they get buckled in and Robbie starts the car, turning to them, "what do you guys want to listen too? I only have rock and heavy metal."

"Eeeh, just put it on rock," Dipper says, moving Waddles to the floor to lay down.

Robbie pulls out of the driveway and drives toward the highway that will get them out of Piedmont, California.

"You know how to contact your parents, right?" Robbie questions, trying to fix the loose volume knob

"Mmm, maybe. I'd rather not," Dipper leans back, trying not to think of it.

Robbie shrugs it off, "I'll talk Mr. Pines and the Doc."

Mabel starts singing to the song that's on as they enter the highway.


	2. We have arrived

Robbie drives up to the Mystery Shack and parks, turning to the Twins as they get out of the car.

"See you two tomorrow?" Robbie asks as they unload.

"Yeah sure, where abouts?" Dipper asks.

Robbie thinks, "at the middle school, after school."

Mabel leads Waddles up to the shack as Soos comes out to take their stuff inside. Dipper nods to Robbie as he shuts the boot, "after school tomorrow it is, Gruncle Stan and Gruncle Ford are probably done fighting that monster."

"Yep, I'll tell them, you two get settled in. See ya tomorrow," Robbie says as he rolls up his window and drives off.

Melody walks up to the Twins, "we put your stuff in the attic, why don't you go unpack?"

The Twins nod, waving to her as they go inside and up to the attic.

The twins are unpacking when Dipper's phone rings. He answers it, "Hullo Gruncle Stan, done fighting?"

"Yep! We also had tea with Cthulhu, pretty nice guy. Robbie told us everything, We'll be there in a week," Stan says.

Dipper adjusts his pillow, "wait, a week? I though you guys are in the middle of the Pacific? Or close to the middle."

Stan laughs, "We're on our way home!"

"We met him on the way!" Ford yells in the background.

"How is tea with Cthulhu, exactly?" Mabel asks them.

"Terrifying, but quiet," Stan says.

"He's given us some supplies for the sea, and directions that should get us to you in a week," Ford says, a dull thump of something being placed on the deck.

"We'll see you in a week!" Mabel calls.

"See ya kiddos!" Stan responds.

"Bye my soldiers!" Ford calls as Stan ends the call.

Dipper puts his phone on the end table and looks around their attic. They've been in this attic for two other summers, but the room always brings him a sense of nostalgia. Memories of a summer filled with mystery, lies, time travel, meeting and be-friending monsters surface and he smiles.

"Mabel?"

"What is it, Dipdop?"

"Thanks for trusting Gruncle Stan when I couldn't."

Mabel smiles, "Dipper, that was two years ago and you tell me that every time we arrive."

"I know, but really, thanks," Dipper says, pulling back the closet curtains and meeting a large pawn chess piece.

"Right, forgot about that," he says, taking the Shrink-and-Grow Light from the shelf and shrinking the piece.

"Awww, I liked that," Mabel whines as she pats Waddles.

"If we're going to stay here, we need more space."

"Oh yeah, good point. Wow this feels weird," Mabel says, flopping onto her bed.

Dipper walks over to his bed and sits down, "yeah, it does. Haha, what are we going to do for a month?"

Mabel thinks, "mmmmmm, I don't know, maybe see if Soos and Melody need anything?"

Dipper gets up and moves to the door, "well Mabel, lets go see."

Mabel gets up from her bed and both of the twins walk down the stairs.

A week later, early in the morning, Dipper groans awake, Mabel appears in his view suddenly.

"AAAUUUUUUUGH?!" he slams his head on the tilted ceiling, "ooooohhhhhhh."

Mabel cackles on the floor as Dipper glares at her, "Mabel, why."

She takes a few deep breaths before replying, "morning Dipping Sauce!"

Dipper stretches, "morning."

Suddenly their door flies open and Stan jumps in, "HELLO!"

"AAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH?!" the twins scream in unison.

"Hahahaha-" Stan starts before being interrupted by a fit of coughing, "-hahaha, worth it."

Ford chuckles from behind him, "morning you two."

Dipper glares at Stan, "morning."

"When did you guys arrive?" Mabel asks.

The Gruncles grin nervously, a little _too_ nervously. Dipper pursed his lips, "let me guess; you just arrived, two hours and 12 broken laws?"

"30," Ford corrects, fixing his glasses.

The twins sweatdrop.

"But enough of that! You two need to tell us yourselves, Robbie just said you were here because of some problems," Ford says.

Stan grimaces, "which I may have known about but could do nothing."

The Twins nod and tell the Gruncles everything. It didn't take them long to explain.

After the explanation, Ford gets a thoughtful look and turns to Stan, "you said you knew about this?"

"More or less," Stan confirms.

Ford takes out his phone, "could one you give me the number to your parents cell? I wish to have a word."

Ford's expression is impassive, but Dipper could tell he's not happy. Dipper types in his dad's number and Ford rings it.

"I am trying to see how this is going to end well," Dipper says.

"It'll be hilarious!" Mabel says, a hint of sadness lacing her voice.

Stan watches with a grin as Ford stands around waiting for the Twins' dad, his nephew, to pick up.

"Good morning, my nephew!" Ford greets calmly, his eyes closed.

He waits a bit, "yes I have called to tell you about the Twins."

Muffled frantic 'worrying' is heard from the other end.

Mabel giggles, getting up from the floor and moving to her bed.

"They are physically fine, though mentally and psychologically they are not. I'm sure you'll get a document from child services with in a few weeks," Ford says, hanging up.

Stan laughs loudly, "hahahahaha, nice Poindexter!"

Ford goes to the door, "come along Stanley, we need to sort out some things."

Stan leaves with him, no doubt to head down to the local Police Station to have a chat with the Sheriffs.

Dipper looks at Mabel and they grin, today was going to be a good day.

Dipper sat on Stan's recliner as Mabel knits another sweater. It's been a month and now Summer is officially starting, the Gravity Falls school let the kids have two weeks early. Wendy, Gideon, Pacifica, Candy and Grenda are watching TV with the Twins while they wait for Soos, Stan, Ford, Robbie and McGucket to finish up what they're doing in the forest.

"Geez how long are they going to take?" Wendy asks from her spot on the dino skull by the recliner.

"Robbie said something felt off about the Cipher statue," Gideon says, refraining from saying his full name.

"How can a statue feel off?" Grenda asks from the floor, wiggling fingers.

Mabel shrugs, "I have no idea."

"I'm sure they'll tell us when they get here," Pacifica says from the back of the recliner.

A door slams shut and voices follow. The men come into the room with worried faces.

"Speak of the devil," Dipper says, "so?"

Ford sighs, "this is bad, it's _empty_."

"How can a statue be empty?" Candy asks.

Ford shrugs, "I don't know, all I know is that five of us aren't getting _any_ sleep for the next month."

"Dude, you are terrible at giving news," Wendy says, concerned.

Ford grips the bridge of his nose, "well what do you want me to say? 'Yep have fun with sleep deprivation and possible hallucinations for a month'?"

"That would have been better, anyway, any theories?" Pacifica asks.

"Unfortunately none," Ford shrugs.

"I got nothing," Stan says.

McGucket's face fell, "I tried scannin fer magicka, but nothing came up."

"Yeah, it's like a normal statue now," Robbie says with a worried look on his face.

"Doods, this is like, really bad news."

"You don't say, Soos," Stan says to his former employee.

"Who wants to play DD&MD? We might as well take advantage of our sleep deprivation," Ford says.

"As much as we want to stay, we need to get home," Grenda says, grinning apologetically.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow with 20 tons of coffee!" Candy says.

"Bye, see you tomorrow!" everyone calls as the girls leave.

"Where are we going to play?" Gideon asks.

Ford thinks, "my private study, it's empty and large enough."

"We'll get the game and nerd papers!" Mabel says, grabbing Dipper and dragging him with her.

"Meet you there," Wendy says as they head into the gift shop.

Shortly after everyone filed into the study, the Twins came down with the game and papers. Let the games begin.


	3. Cup of coffee, added Mabel Juice

Early the next morning the Zodiac are in the shack's dining room, most of them trying not to crash. A few of them slept in the study while everyone else continued their DD&MD game. Everybody got a few winks of sleep except for the Pines. They powered through the night with zero consequences. Well, with the added side effect of a really strange DD&MD game

"I need 500 cups of coffee and an equal amount of Mabel Juice shots," Dipper grumbles around his shirt.

"Dipper, shirt does not belong in face," Mabel says sleepily.

Dipper spits his slobber soaked collar out of his mouth and grunts. Ford slumps against the fridge as Stan pours a cup of coffee, "Y'know, Poindexter, he comes when you're sleep deprived."

"I am aware, yes, but I do not know where he his or the circumstances of his revival," Ford says with a yawn.

Stan takes a sip of his coffee and grimaces, "and that's what's troubling me, too. Bleg, this coffee is gross."

Ford watches Stan pour his coffee down the drain, "Mabel, dear, when are Candy and Grenda coming with 20 tons of coffee?"

Mabel takes out her phone and squints at the bright light, "ow, uhm, they said in ten minutes."

"Okay, I'm not one for coffee, but I really need it right now," Robbie says with a groan.

"This was a mistake," Pacifica groans.

Gideon yawns, "I agree."

Wendy groans awake from her nap on the floor.

Dipper laughs, "good morning lioness!"

Everybody snickered at Dipper calling Wendy a lioness. Never mind the fact that she did sound like one. Dipper glares at everyone when there's a knock at the door.

"I got it!" Melody calls.

"Thanks dood!" Soos calls.

Melody opens the door to the shack, Candy and Grenda coming in with coffee in their arms. They come into the dining room, giving everybody a cup.

"Thanks girls," Ford says, taking a sip.

"Ah this is the perfect strength!" Stan says.

Robbie takes a sip of his coffee, "uuugh, this is bitter but tastes like hot chocolate."

Candy nods, "we didn't know what your preferences were, so we got most of you mochas. If you want sugar you'll have to add it yourself."

"Oh," Robbie says, reaching for Stan's sugar.

"Gideon, we got you black coffee with a little cream," Grenda says.

"Thank you girls," he says, sipping his coffee.

Fiddleford sips his coffee, the girls already knew how he took his.

"If you don't mind, could you tell us how you take your coffee?" Candy asks, taking out a pad and paper.

"Black with a bit of cream," Gideon says.

"Straight black," the Gruncles say, taking a sip.

"Mocha with sugar," Robbie says.

"Coffee with cream and sugar doods," Soos says.

"Mocha without sugar," Wendy says, taking a sip.

"Also a mocha without sugar," the twins say.

"Mocha without," Pacifica says as she enjoys her cup.

Candy nods as she jots them down.

"So were did you get these coffees? I haven't seen any place that sells them," Dipper says, a little more awake.

"Lazy Susan hired a Barista!" Grenda says.

"Huh, they're pretty good," Pacifica remarks.

"Yeah she is isn't she?" Candy remarks.

"Oh that's her? It took her two months to get used to the neighbours," Gideon says with a laugh.

Robbie heads for the door, "well I'm heading out, see ya guys later."

Gideon stretches, "well the rest of us better be headin' off as well and let you guys get to business."

The other's except for the Pines, Wendy, Soos and Melody leave the shack to go back to town. A quiet calm settles over the room.

"Well, Soos, Wendy we best open up and get this show on the road. Lets leave these guys to do their own thing," Melody says, leaving to go open up.

Dipper checks his hand, finding a crudely drawn turkey from last night. At least, he thinks it is.

"Mabel?"

"Oh, I was wondering how long it would be until you noticed!" Mabel says, dying with laughter.

"Last night got a little weird," Stan remarks.

Ford chuckles, "yes, almost too weird."

Ford chugs the last of his coffee and winces, "owowowowow too hot!"

His brother and the niblings laugh as his sticks his tongue out in pain.

"Dipper, Mabel, why don't I take you out to the statue so you can see for yourselves?" Ford asks.

"Uh, Poindexter, are you sure?"

Ford haves his hand, "Relax, the less sleep you've had the less horrifying it'll be."

Stan faceplams, "Poindexter, are you ok?"

Ford grins, "nope!"

The Twins giggle and run upstairs to get their things, leaving the Gruncles to themselves.

Stan leans against the counter and sighs, "he can't come back, we, we have no way to get rid of him again!"

"I know, that's why I hope that this is a false alarm and that we're blowing this bigger than it is," Ford says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Dipper comes in and trips, falling flat on his face. He lifts his head up and holds up the Shrink-and-Grow Light triumphantly.

"Got the Shrink-and-Grow Light! Ooowww," he says, holding his head.

"You ok Dipper?" Mabel asks, stifling laughter.

Stan helps Dipper regain his balance. Ford slings a crossbow over his back and pats his pants, "alright, is everyone ready?"

"Aye sir!" Mabel says, saluting.

Dipper chuckles and salutes as well.

Stan laughs, "then let's go kick a statue!"

Ford leads them out the back door and to the forest, keeping away from the townsfolk for now. They do not need to know about the statue.

After a few minutes of trekking through the forest, the Pines come to what they call "asshole triangle graveyard".

Dipper walks over the statue and inspects it, knocking on it a few times, "huh, it's hollow."

Mabel tosses a rock at it, said rock nearly hitting Dipper, "sorry Dipper! And you're right."

"Ugh Poindexter, I have a bad feeling about this," Stan says, lightly kicking the statue with his toe.

Ford circles around the statue, calmly assessing the situation, "logic would dictate that this would be mathematically and physically impossible without a clear plug-hole on the surface, but I'm not seeing one," he leans back upright, "however this is Bill we're talking about, logic need not apply."

Dipper taps his chin, "you're right."

"Uuugh, this is making my brain hurt," Mabel whines.

"Same sweetie," Stan says, poking the statue with a stick.

Ford rubs his temples, "I do _not_ want to deal with this, not after two years."

"I'm not going to even try to figure this out, hey, he might be truly dead now," Dipper says, trying to be optimistic even though this is Bill Cipher.

That seemed to have calmed down the others though.

"Yeah you might be right Dipper, maybe he's finally out of our hair for good!" Mabel says with a smile.

Stan puts down his stick and ruffles Dipper's hat, "you might be right kiddo!"

Ford seems the most at ease, "well then, Dipper shrink the statue, it'd make a good back scratcher."

They all laugh as Dipper shrinks the statue and they walk back to the shack, no doubt to put on as an interactive display.


	4. Enter Snaaake! And Co

The Nomad thundered across blindingly bright skies, gliding effortlessly over the vast Pacific Ocean. The air was refreshingly light inside, Snake sitting on his usual bench, resisting the urge to have a smoke. There was a lot of room afforded by clearing out the military equipment, and by sprucing up the decor more akin to a mobile home. Otacon is in a somewhat tense call, trying to coax Raiden into something.

"Raiden, I know you are excited to start working again, but I can already see you need a break. Bring the family along, they'll appreciate seeing you before you disappear, right?" Otacon pushes his glasses back on to his face. The room felt surprisingly empty without Sunny… or Naomi.

"I'll have to talk with Rose, maybe the pressure is getting to me a bit. Isn't exactly easy fitting in with a jaw like this, y'know."

"I wouldn't be too eager to change to a battle-ready body, you'll miss home soon enough," Snake croaks up, stretching from his seat.

"You aren't far from there, at least consider it Raiden. Take Snake's advice, he's looking a little better already," Otacon says, leaning forward in his seat a little.

"Heh, alright. I'll look into it, and let Maverick know. I'm sure Boris can take over for a little bit. If anyone asks, it's a mental break," Raiden promptly disconnects, smiling.

"Great excuse you had there, a holiday?" Snake comes over, questioning Otacon.

"Well, what was I meant to say. 'Hey, we dug up files on some kids that may have time traveled', I'd just hang up on myself if I said that."

"You've got a point, I just hope he doesn't take it too badly," Snake turns to go upstairs..

"I'm sure he wouldn't, if you explain it properly. There's some truth to it too, a break really wouldn't be such a bad idea," Otacon shrugs, Snake shakes his head and starts climbing.

Otacon re-adjusts himself and sighs, "not long now, ooh, weather looks nice…"

Back at Gravity Falls, Oregon, Mabel is in town with the girls. It's been a couple of days since Ford showed the Twins the statue and so far nothing interesting has happened. Dipper is currently hanging out with the boys, probably blowing something up.

"Are you sure you want to hang with us?" Pacifica asks. They brought her along to get some breathing room from her parents.

"Yeah! I brought it up with Dipper and he agreed that we could a little time apart," Mabel says, "but if the need arises we can call the other." She holds up her phone.

"Don't you guys have that encrypted messaging app that Dr. Pines made for you?" Candy asks.

"Yeah it's called...called, Mabel I have forgotten what the Doc called it," Wendy says turning to Mabel.

"Uuuuuuuuuh, lemme check," Mabel checks her phone, "yeah it's called Zodiacodec."

"Oh yeah, why do I keep forgetting that?" Wendy asks herself.

"It has a nice ring, I wonder where he got the idea? Apart from us being the Zodiac," Pacifica wonders.

Mabel laughs, "remember that story we told two years ago?"

"That one where you guys time travelled?" Grenda asks.

"Oh yeah I remember that story, you think they're still alive?" Wendy asks.

"Unlikely with the lifestyle they have," Pacifica says.

Mabel shrugs, "Dipper has the same reasoning and I kind of agree with him."

"Awww, and I wanted to meet them," Candy whines as the girls come up to the mini golf course.

"I am still surprised that they're allowing you two back in here," Wendy says, pointing to Pacifica and Mabel.

Pacifica grins, "I may have threatened that I was going to bulldoze this course if they continued to keep us out."

"You've been hanging around Gruncle Stan too much," Mabel says with a giggle.

Wendy laughs, "nice man!"

"Why thank you," Pacifica says, bowing jokingly.

The girls enter the golf course to have some fun.

Back at the shack in the basement a loud bang thunders from behind the vending machine.

"Uuuuh, science experiment," Soos says to the tourists in the gift shop.

Down in the renovated basement Robbie coughs some smoke out of his lungs, "what did we just combine?"

"I think we failed to make water," Gideon says from his seat, taking his earmuffs off.

Dipper scrunches his face up in pain, "can we continue as soon as my ears stop ringing?"

Ford opens his jaw and blinks a few times, "sure."

Stan reaches up and puts out a small fire on Ford's hair while he turns his hearing aid back on, "let's blow something else up."

Robbie grins, "wanna blow up a fan and see if it kills us?"

Stan mirrors his grin and pulls out a large floor fan, "now, how are we going to blow this thing up?"

Ford gives a sinister grin and lifts up a car battery charger box, "this is how."

"I am beginning to think we made a grave mistake," Dipper says to Gideon.

"Well we have nothing better to do," he says as they watch Ford eagerly - a little too eagerly - plug the pack in.

Dipper shrugs and runs up, "after this we're taking the counterweight out of a dryer, putting a brick in it and watch it disassemble itself!"

Robbie highfives him, "yes!"

Stan plugs the fan into the battery pack and excitedly jumps a bit, "turn it on, turn it on, turn it on!"

Dipper hesitantly turns the fan on and the four of them duck behind the counter. Gideon slowly closes the elevator door and looks through the glass. The fan's blades speed up significantly and it starts to shake.

"One of two things will happen, either the blades will fly into the ceiling, it'll kill us, or the magic smoke coming out will kill it," Ford says.

"That's three Poindexter," Stan says as it shakes more, a fierce whining noise coming from the fan. Thick black smoke pours out of the fan and it stops working.

The men giggle like a bunch of school girls.

Dipper starts coughing, "magic smoke does not smell nice, ugh."

Ford gets up, brushing the dirt off his pants and sweater, "Why don't we try something bigger, like a washing machine or a…?" he waves his hand in a circle, waiting for an idea to come to him.

Gideon opens the elevator, "my parents recently got a new dryer, I can ask if we can use the old one?"

"Perfect! Come along you four, Gideon can't drag it here on his own!" Ford says, walking to the elevator.

The other follow him up to the basement and outside.

They dragged the dryer back to the basement and Ford finishes plugging it, a shit eating grin accompanying him. Dipper puts the brick in and shuts the door. Stan flicks the outlet switch on and the dryer turns on.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Gideon asks, mildly amused as it starts to shake.

"Because we've lost control of our lives and we have nothing better to do," Robbie answers.

Gideon shrugs, "fair enough."

The dryer starts hopping along the ground, tearing itself apart as the brick thunders in it. Ford starts giggling as it chases Stan around the basement, Stan briskly walking away from the dryer.

"Can it Poindexter!"

"Then, hahahahaha, get away, pffft hahahaha, from it!" Robbie says, wiping away tears.

Dipper is rolling around on the floor, holding his sides as he laughs, tears streaming down his face.

Stan is frantically trying to get away from the machine as it follows him and takes itself apart, "seriously is this thing possessed or something?! Why is it following me?!"

He looks over the other four, rolling around the floor and crying with laughter, "help me dammit!"

The machine bounces around harmlessly before stopping, grinding away on the exposed motor. Stan looks back and howls with laughter.

"Anything, snerk, anything else we can destroy?" Dipper asks, recovering slightly.

Ford shakes his head, "no, we should probably go back up stairs."

"Good call, I should get back home," Gideon says walking to the elevator with the others.

Ford presses the button and they ascend, "Dipper, Stanley, you guys up for a simple walk around town? With Mabel of course."

"Sure thing Poindexter!" Stan says with a grin.

Dipper nods, "sounds good to me."

The boys exit into the gift shop after making sure no one was too close to the vending machine.

Mabel walks up to them from the 'employees only' area, "hi guys did you have fu - Dipper what happened to your eyebrows?"

Dipper glares at Robbie, "someone wasn't paying attention when he lit that!"

Robbie brings his hands up in defense, "sorry dude, it was still hilarious."

Mabel gets this evil gleam in her eyes and she pulls out a black marker, stepping close to Dipper.

Dipper slowly backs away, "wait uh Mabel, wait is that sharpie?"

He breaks into a run and Mabel sprints after him through the museum.

Robbie and Gideon walk towards the door, "see ya later!"

"See you later Robbie, Gideon," Ford says as they leave.

A loud thud is heard upstairs.

"Well they got upstairs quickly," Stan remarks.

"MABEL NO!"

That is pretty much all they hear until the Twins walk down stairs, Mabel grinning and Dipper with some temporary eyebrows.

Stan snorts and Dipper glares at him.

"Mabel, do you want to join us when we walk around town?" Ford asks.

Mabel sways in place, "any reason?"

Dipper shakes his head, "no reason."

"Sure!"

Later that evening, the Pines family are casually walking through the quiet town enjoying the calm air and nice sunset. The streets are quiet, until a dinky little hatchback pulls up behind them and the driver rolls down his window.

"Um excuse me, but do you know if there is a hotel around here? We've been driving in circles and haven't found one," he says.

Mabel takes a look at him, "hmmmm you look like Huey."

Otacon swallows, "I'm his grandson, Otacon, nice to meet you."

"Can we get to the whole time biz tomorrow morning? I'm really tired," Snake croaks from beside him.

"See that mansion on the hill?" Ford asks, pointing to the now McGucket Mansion.

"Yes?"

Ford grins, "our friend, Fiddleford McGucket lives there, tell him Stanford Pines sent you and he won't charge you."

"He turned the mansion into a hotel for tourists, oh and a zoo," Dipper says off-handedly.

"Oh and another thing, this town is weird, you might want to roll with it," Stan advises as Otacon drives off.

"Weird? We're used to weird," Otacon deadpans.

"Then you'll be fine," Stan says with a shaky smile.

Snake watches the Pines Family wave and turn away. He looks at the picture in his lap, the Pines Family and an impassive Big Boss with Kaz and Ocelot in it.

"So Snake, is it them?" Otacon asks, keeping an eye on the road.

Snake holds up the photo, "it's them."


	5. Why are you so calm about this?

Early the next morning, Snake woke up to a spectral snake with his phone in it's mouth. The blinking light on the phone tells him he has a message.

Snake rubs the sleep from his eyes as he takes his phone from the ghost, "thank you."

The ghost snake nods and disappears.

Snake checks his message as he gets out of bed, "gone back to Portland to pick them up, will be back later in the evening."

He yawns and sets down the phone on the end table. Snake gets up and checks the time on the clock, six o' clock, not much would be open this early. He gets up and walks to the bathroom to get dressed to head out into the quiet town.

Snake steps out of his room, fully dressed and as he walks down the stairs, he pats a deer on his way down. He exits the Mansion and starts on the long, quiet trek to town.

He's enjoying the quiet, albeit odd trek - he's seen at least five gnomes and spotted a unicorn - when he spots a glimmer of auburn hair from the corner of his eye. He turns to look at Mabel walking up the path with a vacant look in her eyes. She looks like she needs a distraction.

"Hey, girl, are you alright?" he asks.

Mabel jumps in surprise, "oh you, the guy that was with Otacon, I'm Mabel, nice to meet you."

Snake nods and walks closer, "call me Snake. You forgot a picture," he hands her the picture of the Pines and the three Diamond Dogs leaders.

Mabel gasps, "omigosh! Thank you Snake!"

"You're welcome, Otacon dug up your files, we can talk when he gets back."

Mabel tilts her head as they walk to town, "oh? Who's he getting?"

Snake glaces at the bushes, "some friends, one of which needs a break."

"Well that's good! They'll like it here, it's quiet," Mabel says, looking a little better.

"It is, and Raiden is used to weird like Otacon and I," Snake says, making a double take as a Manotaur crosses their path, waving to Mabel as he passes.

Mabel waves back, "Raiden?"

"As I said, he's an old friend of mine. He's bringing his family too," Snake says.

"Oh that's nice!" Mabel says with a smile.

"Oh, just to warn you he's kind of a… cyborg. He's not different to you or me."

"So I should advise Dipper and Gruncle Ford against asking him a billion questions?" Mabel ask.

Snake nods, "yes."

"Alright, although they're really more interested in the supernatural than robots," Mabel says as the pair enter town.

"Have you dealt with mythological creatures, Snake?" Mabel asks as she waves her hand for him to follow.

"Like dragons?" Snake counters, he's not sure if Psyco Mantis counts.

"Those have been dead for years, ask Gruncle Ford, he's only met the smaller ones. I mean like Cthulhu, Jersey Devil, Chubacabra, Big Foot, Kraken, Manotaur, Dryad, Unicorns, Ents, Spinxes, Shedu, Centaurs, Gorgon, Mothman, Manticore, Gryphons, Satyrs, Fairy, Gargoyles, Gnomes, Gremlobins, Lepricorns and more," Mabel says with ease.

Snake not sure what he's surprised at, Mabel saying those with ease or the fact that they exist.

"Oh almost forgot, there's living dinosaurs trapped in tree sap under the town," Mabel says as they pass Greasy's Diner.

"Eh? There's what under the town?" Snake asks incredulous. Fighting a psycho that's capable of controlling minds is one thing, but living dinos? A whole different cup of tea.

"Dinosaurs, Dipper and I can show you later if you want?" Mabel offers.

Snake nods, "yeah, I need to see this."

Mabel smiles, "alright! Hey would you look at the time, I think the others should be awake by now!"

"And that means?" Snake ventures.

"You should come up and meet them! Gruncle Ford can explain the time displacement thing better than I can," Mabel says, skipping ahead.

Snake looks at her, "you know why Otacon and I are here?"

Mabel looks back and nods, "uh-huh, of course we do!"

"Well, you guys certainly did learn from the best in that time," Snake says, not offering anymore as they walk up to the shack.

Ford is outside, stalking around the house with a cup of coffee in hand and wearing a pink robe. He turns when he hears Snake's heavy footsteps.

Ford walks up to him, "ah, I suppose you're here for an explanation?"

Snake nods, trying not to focus on the bright orange cat slippers on Ford's feet, "yeah, the easy way for once. Don't have to choke you out, or anything"

Mabel walks into the shack.

"If you don't me asking, are you wearing that for a bet?" Snake asks.

Ford takes a sip from his flower mug, "thought I heard something. Also no, my great-niblings got this stuff for me."

Snake nods, "fair enough."

"Do you want to come in for coffee?" Ford asks, stepping up on the porch.

"If you don't mind," Snake replies, following him inside.

Snake wordlessly follows the old man through the house and into the dining room. Stan is sitting at the table with the Twins digging into some pancakes.

Stan looks up Ford and Snake, "ah you brought in the soldier, so anything?"

Ford shakes his head, "nothing, it might've been the Demon Cat taking a break from haunting the White House or an Agropelter."

Mabel gasped, "what's a Demon Cat and can I pet it?"

Ford chuckles, walking over to the kettle and pouring Snake a mug, "a Demon Cat is well, a ghost cat really, and it's best you don't try to pet it."

Mabel pouts and stuffs a piece of pancake in her face.

Ford walks back to Snake and gives him the mug, "here you go."

Snake takes it, "thank you."

"So yer here to talk to us?" Stan asks Snake, not taking his eyes of the paper.

Snake nods, savouring the taste of his coffee, "just tell me how you got there, I don't need anything else."

Ford swallows a few times and the room goes quiet.

"Er, you don't need to tell me your life story," he says. Snake has a bad feeling that he may have opened old wounds.

"Right. Well, during 'the event' the Gravity Falls Natural Law of Weirdness Magnetism border, under the strain of holding back his magic, was causing some side effects in the field. Apparently one of those effects is time displacement," Ford explains.

Snake nods and takes another sip, he doesn't know about this event, but they clearly do not want to talk about it. His phone buzzing makes him jump in surprise. He takes it out and checks the message. Mabel says something into Stan's ear.

Got them, in town, where are you? reads Otacon's message.

Snake taps at his screen, at the Mystery Shack, they told me, I'll tell you when you get here.

Kk, Otacon says.

"So who's coming, seeing that Otacon wasn't here, Snake?" Stan asks. Seems that Mabel told them.

"He went to pick up some old friends," Snake answers.

Mabel seems to get reminded of something, "oh yeah! Gruncle Ford, Dipper, his friend Raiden is a cyborg. No prying."

The dorks give a clueless thumbs up as they take a sip of their drinks.

Ford looks at the time and looks at himself, pink bathrobe, nerdy t-shirt, space boxers with scars crossing his skin.

"I'll get dressed later," he says, taking a bite of toast.

Snake decides to wander the shack while he waits.

Waiting didn't take that long till Snake has his friends huddled in the shack's living room. The Gruncles have not bothered to put on pants as they sat on their recliners and argued about the TV. Snake told Otacon about the Weirdness Border. Raiden is on the floor with Rose, colouring with Sunny and John.

A small bang, shatter and a loud thud sound from upstair. Raiden is about to get up to check on the Twins when Stan holds up a hand, "don't, they can handle it."

Raiden nods and sits back down.

Somebody falls down the stairs and an opossum scurries outside.

"That is the third time this week," Dipper says as he and Mabel enter the room.

"Just an opossum?" Rose questions.

Dipper laughs, "thankfully just an opossum!"

"Yeah, we've gotten gnomes, they're usually worse!" Mabel says, joining in the laughter.

Rose is hopelessly lost, same with Raiden. Sunny and John are too focused on drawing, Otacon saw a few earlier and Snake had to kick one off the patio.

"I usually just drop kicked them if they annoyed me," Ford says, without taking his eyes off the screen.

A loud screech is heard and the ground shakes. Stan sighs, "oi, Poindexter your pet is here."

Ford gets up, walking to the door he turns back, "well, are you coming to meet her?"

The others follow him outside to see a large pterodon staring at them. The creature chirps a hello and nuzzles Ford.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuh," Raiden ventures.

"This is Terror, my pet, Stanley has Gompers, Mabel has Waddles and Dipper recently got Shelly," Ford says, rubbing Terror's beak.

"She's a real live Terror-don!" Stan jokes and Ford howls with laughter as Terror gently knocks Stan with her beak.

Raden stifles back some laughter as Rose glares at him.

Snake turns to Mabel, "so, underneath the town, in sap, live dinosaurs?"

"Yup!" Mabel says with a nod as she runs up with Waddles to say hi.

Rose steps up to Otacon, "they have scars, physical and mental, but based on what Snake told us I don't want to pry."

Otacon nods, "I'm sure they'll tell us in due time, right now I think we should relax. And don't say anything about the dinosaur."

John and Sunny are petting Terror with glee.


	6. Mythos Adventure!

Three days after the arrival of Snake's company, they are walking up the path to the Mystery shack to converse with the residents. They're slightly more interesting to talk to, because well one tamed a pterodon. Sunny and John are currently holding a conversation while Rose and Raiden lead the group. Snake and Otacon are talking amongst themselves quietly.

"I like this town, it's quiet and the perfect amount of weird," Raiden says suddenly.

"I wouldn't mind living here, seems out of the way as well," Rose agrees.

Sunny nods enthusiastically, "I really like Fiddleford! He doesn't mind me helping out on his projects!"

"He doesn't like us going near this pile of metal though," John says.

"Is it the metal that has a bluish sheen to it?" Otacon asks.

Sunny and John nod, "that's the metal."

"It'd probably make a pretty good HF blade," Raiden says, geeking a bit.

"I think the Pines family has plans for us, I see bags," Snake qips up as they get into veiw of the shack. Sure enough the Pines split themselves into two groups; the twins on on side of the yard with two bags, the Gruncles on the other side with four bags.

On Dipper's shoulder sat a creature with the body of a rabbit, small antlers on it's head, fangs of a snake and the wings of a hawk. This creature is more commonly known as a Wolpertinger, usually inhabiting the forests of Germany, though any forested area seems to do.

Wendy notices them and walks up to the group, "you made it, the kids with the Mystery Twins and the adults with the older men."

Raiden narrows his eyes, "why?"

"No need to worry, we're taking you out to see separate Mythos," Ford says, reassuring Raiden's fears as he walks up next to Wendy.

Wendy and Ford exchange a few words before Wendy walks back inside.

Rose raises an eyebrow, she's not very eager to trust her son with two 15 year olds, "and what are they seeing?"

"Multibear, Manotaur, Gnomes, Unicorn, other "tamer" mythos that we've met," Dipper says, walking up.

John looks up at the white Wolpertinger with light tawny on her wings and back, dark brown flecking her feathers, "where did you get the rabbit?"

Dipper looks at his companion, "oh, Shelly? Near the end of May I was wandering in the forest and she started following me. I stuffed her in my jacket and took her home."

"Generally, stuffing a Wolpertinger down your jacket is not recommended," Otacon says, fixing his glasses.

Dipper scratches Shelly's chin, "she chose me, she was chirping 'Dipper' the whole time she was following me. That or doorbell."

Mabel giggles behind him.

Sunny grabbed one of the bags that wasn't already on the Twins' backs and looks inside, "snacks?"

Mabel smiles, her face lighting up, "yep! They're for the four of us, the stuff in our bags are some treats for them."

"Whoa, cool," Sunny says, putting on the bag. John puts his on.

"And we're seeing?" Snake asks.

"The more dangerous ones, so be sure to keep your wits about you!" Ford says, slinging his crossbow over his back.

The Metal Gear adults take their bags filled with various things to combat mythos creatures and swing them onto their backs.

"Whoa, there's a bit of weight to these," Rose says.

"There's a lot of nerd stuff in the ones for you guys, we have less for uh... reasons," Stan says.

"Well, Gruncle Stan, Gruncle Ford we'll be off, see you in five hours!" Dipper says as the younger ones walk into the forest.

"Well we should be off as well," Ford says, leading his group in a different direction.

The Twins help Sunny and John down a steep hill as Shelly scurries around their feet. She hops into a nearby bush and emerges with a mouse in her mouth, quickly eating it and bounding after Dipper.

"So what are we going to see first?" Sunny asks, taking some pictures of the trees when Shelly lands on her head.

Mabel laughs, "the gnomes first - Dipper look!"

Dipper turns around to see his companion perched on Sunny's head and he laughs as Mabel snaps a picture yelling, "scrapbook opportunity!"

They continue walking until they reach the Gnomes glade. Shelly became frightened, and leaped off of Sunny's head onto a nearest gnome.

Jeff the gnome walks up to them, "ah hello, Mabel, Dipper I see you brought some friends."

Dipper nods, Shelly climbing back to her spot on his shoulder, "yes, Sunny and John, they're with Snake."

"Oh, the big guy who kicked one of us away? Got it, well nice to meet you, we're the gnomes of the forest!" Jeff greets to Sunny and John.

After they chat with the gnomes for a bit, Mabel giving them some jam and a slice of pie. The small group make their way to the Unicorns next. Mabel is chatting with Sunny as Dipper quietly leads the small group through the forest.

John tugs on Dipper's vest, "Mister Pines?"

Dipper looks at John, "please, call me Dipper, what is it?"

"Why did you guys decide to take us out?"

Dipper shrugs, "well, you're tourists that are used to seeing weird things, so we thought we might show you around. You could consider us your hosts, in a way."

John looks around nervously, "we won't meet any of the dangerous creatures will we?"

Dipper shakes his head, "unlikely, we've never met them in these parts."

Shelly chitters softly and pulls out some lettuce from Dipper's pack.

"Aaaand we're here!" Mabel says suddenly as they walk up to the Unicorn's area.

"They're massive jerks," Dipper says offhandedly.

The door opens up and Cellabelleabethabelle pokes her head out, "you're here! Come in, Come in, have some candy then go away."

They go into the glade exchange some words with her and trade candies before leaving the glade with Unicorn brand chocolates in hand. Dipper breaks some of his and gives it to Shelly. She squeaks happily as she nibbles on the piece.

They go to several more creatures before finding themselves at the Manotaurs den. Dipper knocks on the hollow rock as muffled heavy metal plays.

Chutzpar crashes open the rock wall to the Man Cave, "Dipper, Mabel, the Twins' friends! Come in, the Multibear is already here!"

Dipper doesn't seemed fazed at his loud volume, "oh cool, two birds with one stone. C'mon guys."

"It's Karaoke time!" Mabel yells as she enthusiastically runs into the cave.

Chutzpar has to physically push Sunny and John into the cave as Mabel hops onto the rock stage in front of Leaderaur, who's smiling subtly.

Shelly takes out two pieces of cotton from Dipper's pack and shoves them in her ears.

Dipper gently pats Sunny's and John's shoulders as they look on the scene with mixed emotions, "you'll get used to it, now go have fun, we'll be here for three more hours."

At the time the kids were rocking out in the man cave, the adults were sitting in the bushes spying on a recently divorced gryphon and her three cubs, she decided to get away from the ex in Greece and move someplace more interesting. Gryphons have social problems too.

"I am still letting in the fact that I am looking at a real gryphon sink in," Otacon whispers to the group, wide eyed.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it," Stan says, admiring the creature in front of them.

Raiden fiddles with his phone till he manages to turn flash and the shutter noise off, taking a picture of the family.

He smiles and shows it to Rose, "John will enjoy this."

"We'll hang it on our fridge if you really want," she says with a smile.

Ford is sketching the mother out in a new journal, completely absorbed and distracted. He's sketching out poses of her and the cubs, clearly trying to occupy his mind with something else.

Snake is wondering what would happen if she knew they were there.

He decides to voice his worries, "so if she were to notice us, what would happen?"

"She already knows we're here, see her ears move every time one of us makes a sound? As long as we don't head out there and startle her kids, we'll be fine," Stan informs calmly, keeping his voice relatively low.

Otacon nearly panics, "are you telling me a creature with talons that can rend flesh and can fly knows we're here?!"

The gryphon mother twitches her tail in amusement.

Stan nods casually, "yep, they're usually calm though. I met some last year, helped us with treasure hunting in hard to reach places."

Rose notices that Ford is completely caught up with sketching gryphons that he doesn't seem to be aware of his surroundings. Rose goes to shake him out of his trance when Stan pulls her hand away, shaking his head.

Stan suddenly gets taken out by a small furry body, "whoa!"

He lets the little guy clamber on him, wincing as it's claws dig through his clothes. Ford gets pulled out of his trance by the mother. He smiles at her, "thank you for allowing us to watch you."

Otacon backs up slowly as one of the other cubs starts to inspect him. The cub gets annoyed at him trying to get away from it that it tackles him to the ground, chirping in annoyance.

Stan laughs from his spot on the ground, "first rule to interacting with gryphon cubs; let them tackle you."

There's another oof and Raiden joins them on the ground with a cub rolling around on him. Rose smiles and snaps more pictures to hang on the fridge.

The mother shoves her head into Ford's face and he scratches her head with his hand.

The three cubs finish rolling around on their people and allow them to sit up. The mother chuffles at the cubs and the family disappears into the underbrush.

Ford rubs his face, trying to bring himself back down to earth, "onto the next creature, then we head home."

Rose looks at him with concern, "are you alright Ford?"

Ford nods, standing up, "I am perfectly fine, let's get going."

The group follow Ford through the forest. Snake steps on a stick and startles Ford.

Stan stops the group, "alright, Ford we're going to the kids."

Ford nods without argument and follows Stan in the direction of the Man Cave.

It took them roughly 20 minutes to get to the Man Cave, John being very glad to see his parents and Sunny seeing Otacon and Snake. Raiden shows John and Sunny the pictures he took of the gryphons as Rose watches Stan comfort Ford.

"I am very worried about him," Rose comments to her husband and Otacon.

"So am I," Otacon agrees.

Snake is having an arm wrestling match with a Manotaur.

"I'm worried about the four of them," Raiden says. He's about as observant as a brick, but some things can be glaringly obvious that even a brick can feel through its semi-porous surface.

Rose nods, "they have been through some things, and they really need to talk to somebody other than themselves."

"Family sometimes just isn't enough," Snake quips.

The Twins are belting out Bohemian Rhapsody.

Ford walks up to them, a little more awake, "I apologize for the inconvenience, if you like, Dipper and Mabel can fill in and take you to the creature I was going to show you."

"Excuse me if this sounds rude, but aren't they 15?" Otacon asks.

"We've been through more than you think we have!" Mabel says, startling the scientist.

"Well would you guys like to see the creature?" Dipper asks, standing by the entrance. Shelly seems eager to get out of the place.

Snake's crew nod their heads and they follow the twins to see the creature.


	7. Oh bollocks

The day is overcast, Gravity Falls is expecting some rain today, according to Ford Pines anyways. It's been two weeks since the Pines showed the others the creatures of Gravity Falls.

It's a quiet day in the shack so far when Wendy's panicked voice cuts through the calm air, "guys come look at this!"

The Pines quickly file into the museum to see Wendy tentatively holding an arm and a hat, looking very, very worried.

Ford takes a very sharp breath inwards, "anything else?"

"The eye's closed," she says, hoping this doesn't lead to anything remotely bad. Ford takes another deep breath trying to calm himself.

Mabel takes his hand and leads him out to the living room, "let's go knit Gruncle Ford, we'll leave the theorizing to these guys."

Waddles follows them with Terror's whistle in his mouth. Shelly hops down from the rafters onto the statue, knocking it off the pedestal. It shatters when it hits the ground.

"That, cannot be good," Stan says slowly, nudging the pile.

Soos comes in with the dustpan, sweeping it up and putting it in the trash, "doods we may have to tell them."

Dipper pets Shelly between the horns, "yeah, we'll have to keep it short and to the point."

"Rose is a social worker, I could tell, we can speak to her individually," Stan informs. Stan knows the importance of a therapist or a psychological counselor.

Wendy looks at the arm and hat in her hand then to the doorway, "I'll go see if he's OK."

She walks over the bin, depositing the bits she accidently broke off as she walks to go check on Mabel and Ford.

"I'll close down the shack for the time being, doods, Melody!" Soos says, walking away to go shut the shack down.

Dipper looks to an umbrella and the golf cart outside, "I'll go get them."

Stan gives Dipper his keys to his El Diablo, "take this instead."

"Uuuh, Gruncle Stan, your car is a manual, I have no idea how to drive stick!"

Stan walks away, "eh, you can figure it out."

Dipper looks at the keys then to Shelly, "well let's go find them, Shelly."

Shelly chitters at Dipper as she follows him to the car, Dipper looks at his companion, "we'll check through town first, then head up to the Mansion."

Dipper opens the door to the drivers side, Shelly hopping over to the passenger seat and puts on her seatbelt. He sits down and opens the glove box, finding the rather thick manual for the car, "thank you Gruncle Stan for keeping this here."

Dipper scans through the book quickly before clicking himself in, turning on the ignition and nearly rear ending the totem. He winces and fixes the gear, driving off into town carefully.

He reaches town, carefully driving around, looking for John, Sunny, Raiden or any of the others. A knock at his window draws his attention.

Dipper rolls his window down to speak to Sheriff Blubs, "morning, Sheriff Blubs."

"Morning Dipper, something come up that you're driving Stanley's car?"

Dipper nods slowly, "unfortunately it has to do with 'the event' so never mind all that, but I'm looking for the tourists."

Blubs fixes his sunglasses, "I'll narrow your search down, they're at the golf course, all of them."

Dipper grins, "thank you, have a nice day Sheriff."

"You too," Blubs says as Dipper drives off in the direction of the golf course.

Dipper reaches the course and spots a free parking space next to the yellow dinky hatchback with the blue passenger door. He parks and gets out, running to the entrance with Shelly gliding by him.

He makes a quick greeting to Mattress King as he jogs past and frantically looks around for them.

Shelly squawks at him and points to a course, he turns around and sees Snake towering over everyone.

"How did I miss that?" he remarks as he jogs up to the group.

Snake turns around, "ah, morning Dipper, what brings you here?"

"Could you guys follow me to the shack?" Dipper asks.

Otacon looks at him with confusion, "why?"

"Can't say it here, just please follow me to the shack?" Dipper pleads.

Rose nods, "If you say so, what's the rush?"

They hand their golf clubs off to an employee as the follow Dipper and Shelly to the parking lot.

"I see Stanley's car but no Stanley," Raiden says.

Dipper grins, "he gave me his keys to get you guys."

Sunny giggles, "can I ride with Dipper?"

Raiden nods, "yeah, I'll join you."

Dipper gives Raiden the keys, "I hope you know how to drive stick."

Raiden nods and gets into the driver's spot, Dipper and Sunny filing into the back. Shelly occupies the passenger seat. Raiden points at the Wolpertinger and silently looks to Dipper.

"Just let her, she likes it up there. Mabel made her a harness for the car, but I was in a hurry and didn't grab it," Dipper says as the two cars exit the golf course and drive towards the Mystery Shack.

The two cars roll up to the shack, the sign on the gift shop turned to the 'sorry we're closed' side. The group file out of the vehicles and Dipper quickly ushers them inside. They get directed to the living room where the Gruncles and Mabel are waiting.

Otacon fixes his glasses, "any reasoning for the frantic running?"

Stan nods, "yes, sit down so you don't fall down, this might come as a shock."

Everyone shares a concerned look and sits down. Rose glances at Ford, a pile of knitting thread in his lap.

"Two years ago Mabel and I came up here for the summer to stay here with Gruncle Stan. Gruncle Ford came in much later in the summer," Dipper begins, "well we found a dream demon called Bill Cipher who, near the end of summer tricked Mabel into giving him this rift to make Weirdmageddon, but we just call it 'the event'."

"The rift was a product of Gruncle Ford coming through a portal that was in a basement we didn't know even existed till that day. That portal is currently that pile of blue-ish scrap in McGucket's Mansion," Dipper says, finishing his short tale.

Otacon clears his throat, "so during 'the event' you somehow went back in time to 1984 and met with Diamond Dogs?"

The Pines nod.

Stan speaks up, "say Rose, I know you're off the clock but do you think I can borrow you?"

Rose nods and smiles warmly, "will do, I was wondering when you guys were going to ask to speak to me."

Stan gestures to Ford, "take him first, he's been through more. The room in the back should be good."

Rose gets up from the floor and gently touches Ford's shoulder, guiding him to the room to listen.

"How long is it going to take for my mom to talk to him?" John asks.

Stan looks down the hallway with a solemn look, "I have no idea, depends how much he needs to say."

Snake nods, "so tell us more about Bill Cipher, to pass the time."

Dipper hugs Shelly close and nods, "we'll tell you all we know."

An hour later Ford walks out looking a little better and he points to Stan, "your turn, Stanley."

Stan nods and walks into the back room, Ford sitting down on his recliner as the Twins clamber on top of him.

Otacon seems to be writing some things down, "welcome back Ford."

Ford nods and Dipper looks up at him, "we've been telling them about Bill."

"Very well, allow me to input…" Ford starts, explaining everything he knows about Bill.

Down the hall in the spare room Stanley sat on the sofa, a little ways from Rose.

"Let me tell you, I wasn't prepared for a story about parallel realities and parallel worlds," Rose remarks jokingly.

Stan laughs, "I'm slightly more normal!"

"So who's older?" Rose asks.

"Ford is, by 12 minutes," Stan says calmly and Rose pauses.

"You're twins?"

Stan nods.

"Did you know that the cleft chin and post-axial polydactylism are dominant genes?"

Stan narrows his eyes at her, "what are you getting at?"

"I'm getting at that you are an 'anomaly' as well as your brother, ask him about incomplete penetrance when you get the chance," Rose says with a gentle smile.

Stan quirks an eyebrow, "oookaaay, I'll be sure to ask him that, because now I'm curious."

"So, getting to the point, are you getting nightmares and panic attacks, Stanley?" Rose asks gently.

"Not so much anymore, though sometimes I still get nightmares of us not getting to Ford in time or Bill killing off one of the kids. The latter is worse and still prompts me to go check on them, to make sure both are here and well," Stan says lowly.

"How often do you get them?"

Stan thinks, "right after 'the event' I got them almost every night, when Ford and I went on our first trip to the Atlantic, I called the twins every time I got that nightmare. The nightmare became less and less over the two years with nothing happening," Stan rubs his face, "that is, until the beginning of this month when is was brought to our attention that the Bill statue was empty."

"Bill statue?"

Stan nods, "yeah, you would've noticed it in the museum, it was the only interactive exhibit we had. It's his corpse, in a way"

Rose can feel a sense of dread creep up as she asks her next question, "you spoke in past tense?"

Stan looks her square in the eyes, "this morning Wendy found the statue with it's eye closed and crumbling like a normal weathered statue. I dread what this means for us."

Lightning flashed and thunder sounded overhead before it started pissing down. Stan looks out of the window, "thanks for illustrating that part, thunder!"

"He'd be pretty pissed at us," Stan says, getting up to leave, "also, which kid did you want?"

Rose shrugs, "either one you want to send me first."

Stan nods and leaves the room to go collect Mabel. He enters the room to see Dipper and Ford battling each other in Street Fighter while everyone watches.

"Mabel, sweetie, you're up," Stan says, occupying his recliner as the girl vacates it. Stan proceeds to be an awful backseat gamer to the nerd duo.

Dipper delivers a nice uppercut to Ford's character as he pets Shelly.

Melody appears from the kitchen with hot chocolate, "this is not the cheap powder kind, enjoy you guys."

She sets the tray with two cups for Rose and Mabel down, walking back to her and Soos' extension.


	8. We need to Bill proof the town

Four days later, the households of the Zodiac were a buzz with activity, the members darting around town and the forest finding stuff to Bill-proof the entire town.

Otacon is walking with Snake and Raiden, "earlier this week, a tall man with a tan overcoat was seen walking with a golden light to his eyes. Witnesses say he was talking to himself, and exhibiting signs of the paranormal. At least, that's what the news said."

"Golden light?" Raiden questions.

Otacon nods, "yes, though eyewitnesses say it was only temporary as the light tempered down to hazel."

"So everyone thought it was a trick of the light?" Snake wonders, very concerned.

Otacon nods, "exactly, one witness says he swears he saw the eyes slitted, like a reptile's."

"Uh they were slitted like what?" Pacifica asks from behind them.

The three men turn around to face the blond girl, Otacon smiles warmly, "a reptile's, you wouldn't get it, this is - OW?!"

Pacifica kicked him in the shin, "I know about it better than you do apparently!"

She crosses her arms in frustration, "and this is just what we need, he made a deal to possess this person."

"Deal?" Raiden asks.

Pacifica looks at him, hardly believing what she's hearing, "are you serious right now?!"

Raiden looks hurt, "did I miss something?"

"All of you did apparently! One of the things Cipher does frequently is make deals!" Pacifica yells in frustration.

The men's mouths open in an 'o' as they remember.

Pacifica sighs, holding out craft glue and unicorn hair, "just for that you're helping me put this hair all the way around the Mansion gates."

Snake grabs a handful of the hair, "fair enough."

Raiden and Otacon also grab a handful and some glue. Fiddleford walks up to them, "get to it!"

The four of them run off to glue hair to the gates.

Raiden glues the last hair to the front of the wall and stands back as the sphere lights up around the mansion.

"Nice job guys, now let's go into town and help the townsfolk do it," Pacifica says with a grin.

Otacon groans, "I retract my earlier statement."

"Hahaha, you three are not getting out of this, come on!" she waves for them to follow her to town.

They reach the town to most people already done Bill proofing their houses and shops.

Rose walks up to them, "where have you been?"

Raiden pouts mockingly, "'Bill' proofing the Mansion."

Rose raises a quizzical eyebrow, "and what did you do to deserve that?"

"We forgot that Bill makes deals," Otacon says, eyeing Pacifica as she walks around him.

Rose sighs, "I see, well did anything happen that prompted this?"

"Someone in a tan over coat was seen in Portland earlier this week, his eyes had a golden glow with slits in them. That seems to be what entails being possessed by Bill Cipher," Raiden says.

Rose nods then hands the men a list each, "Ford wants these items, you'll find most of them in the mall."

Pacifica puts her phone down, "I just told the other's about your sighting of Cipher."

They nod and head off to get the items on Ford's lists.

Later in the afternoon, most of the items were turned into earpieces for the Zodiac to to connect to the app, Zodiacodec.

Ford is wearing down a hole in the shag carpet of the living room, thinking furiously.

"Ford Pines, for the love of god, sit down before I tranq you," Snake says in annoyance.

Ford regards Snake with a level look, deciding he wasn't bluffing and sits down in his recliner, leg bouncing up and down.

Mabel shoves knitting needles into his hands to have him focus on something else.

"How many coffees has he had?" Otacon asks.

"Around twenty," Stan says, walking into the room, a cup of coffee for himself.

Ford seems to be calmed from the knitting and rubs his face, "are we missing anything else we need to defend against Bill?"

The ones in the room shake their heads, Dipper speaks up, "nothing that I can think of."

Sunny flicks a pen at Ford's head and it clangs off, the entire room falling silent, Stan, Rose and the twins wincing.

Otacon coughs, attempting to draw attention to something else, "so uh…."

The distraction fails as more awkward silence hangs over the group. Shelly yawns from her spot on Waddles and snuggles into the pig.

Sunny pats Ford's head, "sorry about throwing the pen at the metal spot on your head."

Ford smiles grimly, "it's alright, I had this metal plate put in to shield against Bill."

Sunny hugs him, "aaaaaaaaah!"

Raiden looks to Rose, she sadly nods her head.

Stan observes the group, "now that you've earned his trust, the golden rule to is to never break it."

"Preach," the twins agree, nodding their heads.

Suddenly a warning alarm pierces through the air from Otacon's pocket and he frantically fishes his phone out, "w-what?!"

"What's wrong, Otacon?" Snake asks, worried.

"The Nomad, it's… it's moving!" Otacon says.

"Nomad?" Dipper questions.

"The private air carrier they own," Raiden informs.

Ford narrows his eyes, "what are you planning, Cipher?"

"I have no idea, the tracker's been disconnected somehow, we have no way of knowing where he's going," Otacon says, tapping at his phone.

Mabel groans, "he better not try to bomb us."

Ford shakes his head, "unlikely, he'd try to capture the four of us, we've angered him the most."

"And if he does?" Raiden ventures.

"He thinks pain is hilarious, Raiden," Rose simply says, Raiden's artificial blood runs cold.

"Oh," he says simply.

Snake shudders, "he can also rearrange matter, I wouldn't be surprised if bringing someone back to life is easy for him."

Ford coughs and the room falls silent again.

Snake carefully regards Ford, "is there anything else he's done that we should be aware of?"

Ford nods slowly, "he likes to brag and will probably show us off, and would possibly turn the rest of the Zodiac into decor."

The room falls silent for a bit as everyone processes what he said.

Rose turns to Ford, "if you don't mind, Ford, may I tell my group what happened to you?"

Ford nods happily, "yes, please do, I'd go a long way to never re-live that week."

Stan pats his brother on the shoulder, handing him a cup of coffee, "here you go, Ford."

Ford takes it and takes a sip, savouring the taste, "thank you, Stanley."

Otacon stands up, "well I need to work out some things, and you guys need rest, so we'll be leaving."

"Awwww," Sunny whines as she detaches herself from around Ford.

The Metal Gear group leave the shack, a quiet, heavy calm hangs over the Pines family.

"Llama to Shooting Star, why am I the Llama and is thing working?"

"Shooting Star to Llama, I hear you loud and clear, also, I didn't make the symbols."

"Stitched Heart to Pine Tree, I checked up on the Manotaurs, they're good. Also are you certain you want us to call you that?"

"Pine Tree to Stitched Heart, good, and I'm alright with it. It spits in his face y'know?"

"Spectacles to Golden Finger and Penny Pincher, I built the getaway vehicle in case we need it!"

"Penny Pincher to Spectacles, I'm driving right?"

"Third Eye to Question Mark and Ice, have you set up the hot spots?"

"Question Mark to Third Eye, hahaha, yeah dood we so totally have them set up."

"Ice to Zodiac, this is kinda cool we're like secret agents!"

"Golden Finger addressing Zodiac, night guys, keep the earpieces someplace safe and close."

The Zodiac retire for the night.


	9. What are you playing at Bill?

Otacon looks over his diagram again, scribblings of lines, equations and the like scattering the paper.

He puts his head in his hands and sighs, "I have tried everything to figure out where he's going, but nothings working."

Raiden looks at his sword, making sure it's nice and pointy for stabbing, "have you tried contacting the military?"

Otacon thumps his head on the desk, "do you really think they'd listen to 'hey, we need you to hunt for our plane which has been stolen by a demon?"

Raiden lowers his sword, "then what are we going to do?"

"We've already tried the scientific way right?" Rose asks Otacon from her spot on the bed.

Otacon nods, "yes."  
"Then we try the Pines way, Snake see if you can get a hold of Ford," Rose says.

Snake nods and leaves the room that Raiden, Rose and the kids share.

"Can I just say that magic was cooked up by our ancestors because they didn't understand the world around them?" Otacon says, clearly exasperated by this whole deal.

"Then doesn't science count as magic since we're still trying to figure out our world?" Raiden asks smugly.

Otacon closes his mouth before turning around to scribble more things on his diagram.

Snake comes back with Ford in tow, "he was having tea with McGucket," Snake says.

"Afternoon," Ford greets with a mug of tea in hand.

"Afternoon Ford," they all greet in return.

"Any reason why my conversation with McGucket was cut short?" Ford asks, taking a sip from his mug.

"We need to track down Bill, figure out where he's going with our carrier," Otacon says, holding up his diagram with several things crossed out.

Ford looks over the paper, "yeah I have a way to track Bill, though I need a few things."

Ford puts his hand to his ear, "Pine Tree, Shooting Star, go to the Gravity Falls Museum and get me that scrying orb the Blind Eye had lying around, Penny Pincher, I need some fire stone and Spectacles, I need more tea."

Raiden looks confused, "why the code names?"

Ford goes to sip from his empty mug and pouts when he remembers it's empty, "it's in case we have some listeners. Names are powerful things, as I found out."

"What are your code names?" Snake asks.

"I'm Golden Finger," Ford says.

McGucket walks into the room with another mug of tea for Ford, "ah'm Spectacles!"

"Dipper and Mabel are Pine Tree and Shooting Star, respectively," Ford says, sipping his tea, "Stanely is Penny Pincher, Pacifica is Llama, Gideon is Third Eye, Wendy is Ice or Ice Bag, Robbie is Stitched Heart and Soos is Question Mark."

Snake nods, still a little confused, "thanks."

The Twins and Stanley arrive with the stuff needed to track Bill. Ford breaks a few of the crystals, scattering the dust around the ball, "where was he last seen?"

"Well he was with our plane, so Portland, Oregon," Otacon says.

"That's where you parked your plane?" Stan asks.

Snake nods, "that was five days ago, yeah."

Ford focuses on the scrying orb and it glows before showing a hazy picture. Ford scrunches his face up in confusion, "it's hard to tell, but I think he's either going south or north?"

"Very hard to tell," Rose agrees, trying to focus on the fuzzy picture.

Dipper looks surprised, "Pacifica just told me that the sheriff's just got reports of a lot of people being moved from Portland in that carrier."

"At least we have some idea on where he is, going by this and the news report your friend found, Snake." Ford wipes his glasses down, making sure he's not seeing things.

"Are we not addressing the mass amounts of people missing? Why does he need that many people?" Stan asks irritably.

Ford shrugs, "I have no idea."

Dipper pets Shelly, "I don't like this."

"Me neither, I almost don't want to know what he's planning," Mabel says, hugging Waddles.

"Well, we need to know to stop him. Hey, is it possible for me to run my sword through him?" Raiden asks eagerly.

Ford shrugs, "possibly. It depends on how much he needs that body, I don't know if he's bound to it."

Raiden nods, content as he settles back down.

"So what's our next move, Gruncle Ford?" Dipper asks, studying Otacon's notes and fixing a few things.

Ford looks at the orb quizzically, "I...I don't know."

"Well we need to figure it out, and quickly before we get 'the event' 2.0," Rose says, flipping through news reports.

Otacon grabs the Hatchback's keys, "I'll return the car, one of you come pick me up.

"You can leave th' kids with me!" McGucket says with a grin.

Rose nods, "keep watch on them."

Stanley puts his hand to his ear, "addressing Zodiac, stay here we're going to find Bill."

"So, do you have a ride to fit all of us?" Snake asks, looking out the window to Stan's El Diablo.

Stanley nods, "we can use my RV, I usually use it to drag the Stan o' War 2 around and McGucket upgraded it. Mabel, Dipper go get the supplies we'll need."

The Twins salute and exit the mansion, Stan following them to get the RV.

Ford sets down his mug, "well, you guys might want to pack useful items to take with you."

The four soldiers nod and start organizing weapons to take with them.

"HF Blade, check, tranq guns, check, real guns, check, travel snacks, double check, magical sensory doodad, check and extra first-aid supplies, check. Are we missing anything?" Raiden asks looking at their stuff several hours later. Stan went out with the RV earlier to pick up Otacan, who's currently inside with the Gruncles.

Shelly and Dipper look through, "nope, we're good."

The Wolpertinger insisted on coming, Ford pointed out that they make great sentries so they ended up agreeing to taking her.

Mabel nudges Waddles over to Soos and Melody, "you two take care of him, ok?"

"Hahaha, you got it dood," Soos says, picking up the pig.

John runs up to Rose and hugs her, "be careful mom, you too dad."

Raiden smiles and ruffles his hair, "will do, have fun and stay out of trouble!"

Two honks sound from the vehicle and Stan pokes his head out, "let's go already!"

Raiden and Rose grab their personal bags, climbing into the RV. They get comfortable and Stan backs out of the Mansion's driveway and down the path.

"Right, I need a lead," Stan says, tapping at the GPS on the dash.

Otacon looks at the map he has spread out, "well we have some good news finally, someone spotted the Nomad going south."

"Well that's certainly better than what we originally had," Stan says.

Otacon sighs, "that's the only lead we have."

"Alright, but if we start going into Colombia's direction, we're taking a detour. I've got too many uh… memories there," Stan says bitterly, taking the road to California first.

"Fair enough," Otacon says.

"Who wants to play I Spy?!" Mabel says excitedly.

Everyone nods their heads, Ford speaks up from the front seat, "I'll start."

"Take it away Gruncle Ford!" Mabel says, eager to guess what he's spotted.

"Hmmm, I Spy with my little eye something…. Starting with the letter 'S'," Ford says.

"Sky?" Raiden questions.

Everyone grins as Ford nods his head.

Raiden glances outside the window, his eyes falling on something, "I Spy with my little eye something with points."

Dipper grins and rubs his hands, "oooo, hard mode."

Stan turns off the road and onto the main highway.

Ford turns to him, "now, we may be in a hurry, but please don't break any more road laws."

Everybody giggles.

"Agh, I was going for a record too, yeah, got it," Stan says as he slows down a bit.

Stan joins the game by answering Raiden's clue before any of the others.


	10. Mabel says we need to pack warm clothes

"Oh no, we went the wrong way, Snake!" Otacon suddenly snaps, distraught at some news. Raiden was just coming out of the uncomfortable tiny bathroom, brushing his teeth.

"Did I miss something?" he asks, mouth full of foam.

"A large chunk of people just went missing from Portland's airport, he threw us off somehow. Please tell me you know where we're going?" Otacon tries to steady himself.

"... I'm not Snake," Raiden wipes his face off, Snake was dozing off next to his mug.

"Oh, took a moment to think about that, didn't you. Snake, are you there?" Otacon nudges him.

"Whuh?" he looks up, bleary eyed.

Stan approaches Otacon's table, "so..yer tellin' me, that we wasted a day of driving already?"

Otacon turns the volume up on the TV in the RV, "don't blame it on me."

Stan sighs, "I don't blame anybody in this room."

Snake rubs the sleep from his eyes and eyes the news, "we need to head north, if he's going were I think he's going."

"And where do you think he's heading?" Dipper asks from his top bunk. Mabel objected to it when she was offered it.

"Alaska," Snake says.

Ford flicks through the glovebox and produces a map, looking it over.

Rose enters the RV with Shelly in hand, squeaking in complaint, "had to chase her down, she was bugging the other campers."

Rose puts Shelly down and she flies up to say good morning to Dipper.

"So what's our course of action and why's there a Snake look-alike on the news?" Rose asks, sitting next to Raiden after grabbing a cup of coffee.

"Huh, you're right, that looks a lot like Snake," Mabel muses, looking at the mug shot of him on the news.

"He's grinning smugly and it's creeping me out," Otacon says, shuddering and occupies his attention with something else.

"So where in Alaska are we heading, Snake?" Ford asks, his nose in the map.

"Shadow Moses, maybe, we'll need to find someone crazy enough to fly us there," Otacon informs.

Ford flips to the next map, "we'll still need to drive through Canada?"

Snake and Otacon nod.

Stan looks at Ford blankly, "you're driving."

"Fair enough," he responds, absorbed fully into the map.

"So Bill-Naked Snake will be at Shadow Moses? Why? There's nothing there," Raiden questions with a curious look.

Snake groans and puts his head in his hands, "so that's why he kidnapped all those people…."

"Speak to us, Snake," Dipper says, cuddling Shelly.

"It's possible he has his hands on Metal Gear REX, and he needed that many people to get it running," Snake muses.

Ford mutters a sentence in an alien language as he buries his head in his hands.

Snake looks at the older man with concern, "Ford?"

Ford shakes his head, "I'm fine, this gives us all the more reason to get rid of him."

The Twins shudder as they remember Salehenthropus.

"It's my fault, I should've drowned REX in the ocean," Snake says, rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"It's alright, well people, let's get moving north. I know how to _properly_ avoid the cops," Ford says with a mischievous grin.

Stan giggles and sits in the passenger seat, also mirroring his brother's grin.

"Alright, show me how it's done, Poindexter."

Dipper hops down from his bed and gets comfortable on a seat, "there is no way am I falling out of bed."

"Literally!" Mabel quips with a giggle as the RV backs out of their site and out of the park. She hops out of her bed, walking over to the playstation they have and putting in a disc.

"Who wants to sing with me?" Mabel offers, holding out the other microphone.

Raiden shrugs and grabs the other mic, "sure why not?"

Dipper chuckles, sitting up, "oh this'll be good."

It took them eight hours to reach Washington state, counting snack and potty runs. Ford parked the RV in the small mall's vacant car park and everybody filed out, stretching their legs.

"Does everybody have warm clothes?" Mabel asks, doing a bit of impromptu yoga.

Dipper clambers up to the top of the RV and folds the roof back to check the luggage. He finds his bag and roots through it, "I packed a sweater, coat, pants and a pair of boots."

"I packed a few sweaters and a fur-lined coat," Stan says.

Ford points to the burgundy sweater and tan trench coat that he hasn't worn in two years, "I'm good."

Mabel narrows her eyes at Ford skeptically, "you have packed more than that, haven't you Gruncle Ford?"

Ford smiles at her, "yes I have, Mabel."

Mabel grins back as Dipper dives and rolls of the RV's roof. This catches Mabel and Ford by surprise as they jump a bit.

Raiden and Otacon come up to the trio from the mall with some scarves.

"Everything alright over here?" Otacon asks as Shelly glides down from the roof and lands on Dipper's face.

"Everything is fine, we should move on soon if we want to get to the border, I'll see if I can't find out Stanley's pug smuggling route for us to use," Ford says, suppressing a giggle.

"There's one we can use that cuts straight to Alaska, though I'll drive," Stan says, coming up behind Raiden and Otacon holding a few packs of soda.

Ford yawns and rubs his eyes, "yeah you can drive, I'll try to take a nap."

"Well have we got what he need?" Rose says as she pokes her head out of the RV door, "let's get back on the road."

The ones standing around file back into the RV, Stan driving out of the parking lot and back onto the highway.

After driving for a few hours Stan drives off the highway onto a worn down road, hitting a bump. Stan winces and glances at Ford, the bump displacing him to the floor, the others holding back laughter as he continues to snore. Stan grins and turns back to face the road.

They're coasting across the old road when Dipper taps Stan's shoulder.

"What's up kiddo?" he asks, not removing his eyes from the pothole ridden road.

Dipper sits down in the passenger seat and clicks in, "what are we going to do when we get there?"

Stan watches the trees go by, "...Not sure to be honest, I'm kinda following Snake at this point."

Dipper nods and looks at the waning sunset, "yeah, i'm just done with his bullshit at this point and I want it to end. Hopefully they'll help us see this through to the end."

Stan nods, slowing down to dodge a large pothole, "ha ha, though it does feel good to be with people that have been in similar piles of crap like you."

Dipper shares a laugh with him, "yeah it is, though as much as I'd like to be standing with the others like two years ago, having war veterans with you to help beat the paranormal is an amazing feeling."

"Bwomp!" Mabel exclaims as she comes up from behind the two men, "what'cha talking about?"

"Ohmygod Mabel, why?!" Dipper rambles as he clutches his chest in fear.

Stan just barely misses another pothole, "Mabel sweetie, don't do that!"

Mabel grins sympathetically, "Sorry! Just wondering what you two were chatting about."

"We're wondering how we're going to beat Cipher and being thankful they agreed to come along," Dipper says, pointing to their other passengers… As they're drawing on Ford's face with marker.

Dipper sees this and sweatdrops, "uuuuh, that's washable right?"

Mabel glances back to the scene, Raiden smugly taking a picture, "they should be."

Stan turns on his headlights and stops on the side of the road, "alright, this road can get dicey of a night, so we'll need to stop here."

Everyone nods in agreement.

Stan gets up from his seat and sees the scene, "ain't even gonna ask."

Dipper gets up from his seat and climbs up into his bed with Shelly already stealing his pillow. Mabel tidys up her bed a bit before getting into it. Soon everyone retires for the night, Ford being moved back onto his bed.


End file.
